musings on the personal, political and cultural

fresh off the boat

Note: SPOILERS COMING. Also, I refer to the actual Eddie Huang as “Real Eddie” to differentiate him from the young Eddie Huang played in the ABC show by the remarkable Hudson Yang.

Let me preface this reflection with the fact that I am extremely appreciative and grateful for the long-overdue airing of a show like Fresh Off the Boat. Seeing an Asian American family on TV for the first time in my 21 years of life is cathartic, surreal, and validating in so many ways. In particular, ostensibly throwaway details like the patterned bowls (Ep. 1-2), Jessica Huang hand-peeling an apple (Ep. 2), attempts to impress mom with getting the “better” bargain (Ep. 4), hilariously accurate family drama and need to “one-up” one another (Ep. 4), rice sacks as pillows (Ep. 4), and subtitled Mandarin shock me in how gratifying I find it to see such details portrayed on television. All of the actors are fantastic, especially the main family members — Constance Wu, Ian Chen, Forrest Wheeler, Randall Park, and last but not least, Hudson Yang.

However, I want to reflect on the show’s handling thus far (as in, up until Episode 4) of hip hop, blackness, and black culture.